Bitcoin News and Finance
Report Claims the FBI Uses Bitcoin Mixers During BTC Forfeiture Processing Skip to main content

Report Claims the FBI Uses Bitcoin Mixers During BTC Forfeiture Processing

Report Claims the FBI Uses Bitcoin Mixers During BTC Forfeiture Processing

Over the last eight years, U.S. law enforcement has seized a great number of bitcoins and at one time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) held one of the largest bitcoin wallets after the Silk Road takedown. A recently published report shows the FBI has started using cryptocurrency mixing applications in recent times in order to obfuscate transactions from seized bitcoins that stem from a forfeiture.

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

The U.S. government is far from transparent and a newly published report shows just how shady the feds can be these days. The author Joshua Davis explains with great detail that the FBI has been evading “transparency and accountability” specifically when law enforcement has been handling funds from a seizure. For years now, the FBI, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), and FinCEN have said that the use of bitcoin mixers should be criminalized.

The Feds have prosecuted operators of large centralized bitcoin mixers as well charging the operators with illegal money transmission charges and claiming that mixing facilitates crime. These days, cryptocurrency mixers are less centralized and bitcoiners can leverage bitcoin mixers that are built into a noncustodial wallet. Davis explains how “FinCEN is criminalizing Bitcoin mixers” and that anyone using them could be “accused of violating Anti-Money laundering laws.” The report also details how the FBI is “routinely” using bitcoin mixers and has been for a few years now.

Report Claims the FBI Uses Bitcoin Mixers During BTC Forfeiture Processing

The report shows that the FBI seized 39.67 BTC from a man in Tucson, Arizona, and the case involved unauthorized SIM swaps. According to Davis’ findings, the FBI sent updates to the victims and “made it seem as if the cryptocurrency had been already sold.” However, blockchain data shows this wasn’t the case and the victims were told a “clerical error” was made.

FBI Overpaid Bitcoin Miners by a Factor of 4700%

Interestingly, Davis’ findings indicate the blockchain tells a tale of how the transactions the Feds sent were sent “to themselves,” from an address that sent “more than 800,000 transactions,” and the funds derived from an address that sent more than 43 million BTC. The tell-tale signs of a bitcoin mixer being used to obfuscate bitcoin transactions.

“To be 100% clear the FBI does not need a money transmitter license to act as a lawful Bitcoin tumbler because government agencies are exempt from needing to obtain a Money Services Business (MSB) license,” Davis’ report insists. “Instead what I’d like to humbly point out is that the law requires funds to be “safeguarded against waste, loss, unauthorized use, or misappropriation.” As far as those four things to safeguard against, Davis found that “waste” seemed to have been chosen instead of transparency.

Davis assumes that the FBI could have “overpaid bitcoin miners by a factor of 4700%” and fees would be massive when you multiply that by 2x or 5x. The report concludes that Davis doesn’t have any issues or really anything against the FBI in general, but he doesn’t appreciate the hypocrisy.

“I just hate that feeling when I’m treated like a child who needs to stop complaining and trust the authority figure,” the author wrote. “Yes, we do need to trust authority figures, but those authority figures should earn our trust. Authority figures should also try their best to be as transparent as possible.”

Report Claims the FBI Uses Bitcoin Mixers During BTC Forfeiture Processing
Former U.S. law enforcement agents Shaun Bridges and Carl Force. Findings suggest that the recently seized Silk Road stash of 69,370 bitcoins taken from “Individual X” shows the unknown person was likely Shaun Bridges.

The author also noted how the former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl Force and the former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges stole money from the Silk Road case. Force was able to steal 1,200 BTC and Bridges was able to snag 3,100 bitcoin. “They would have gotten away with it if they had taken one extra precaution,” Davis said. “Their downfall was failing to use a tool called a bitcoin mixer.”

Moreover, a representative from the FBI emailed the author of the report and he further explained: “The FBI has stated unequivocally in an email that the funds are still held as Bitcoin. They are required by law to hold these funds as bitcoin and not convert these funds to cash.”

What do you think about the FBI using bitcoin mixers to obfuscate transactions? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory